Shattered Glass And Bloody Marks
by A Strange Bird Indeed
Summary: Danny is forced to face a choice he'd been avoiding for months. Is he really the hero he once was, or has he been changed too much? Electric!core and ghost!king AU. Oneshot.
1. Chapter 1

He stared at the horrific scene before him, shock leaping up inside him, as the hanging image of Mr Lancer swung gasping and terrified like a fish out of water with a gleaming blade pressed to his neck, held up in the grip of Vlad.

He'd dealt with ghost attacks before, but they'd been simple, they'd been easy, he'd been the main target, there was no focus on a hostage, no focus on his weakness; no that was a human tactic, and ghosts weren't human- but Vlad was, of course he was, and that was the reason why the class sat frozen and terrified in their seats as blood slowly stained the steel that seemed to light the room with its deadly gleam.

"So, Daniel, do you now see? See why you'd make a pointless king? Why your weak, spineless self could never rule the ghost zone?!" The words were spat at him, malice curling in the voice of the only person Danny could relate to.

He shook his head, too terrified to speak, his entire form frozen in fear of the knife slipping into Lancer's neck, and yet some small part of him wondered what it looked like, a skull severed of its body, of blood- oh he knew how his blood looked, green with red flecks, but human blood had long slipped his memory- red human blood pouring from the wound in a fruitless effort to repair the wound, and; Danny shook his head to try and clear it of those thoughts.

Vlad took the gesture as a no, and grinned maliciously, those fangs bared as the knife slipped deeper into the skin that lay weakly over the delicate artery.

"The ghost zone needs a ruler who can rule it! I'm hardly the worst you'd see, hardly the evil that lives within. You think I'm bad?! Wait until they come for you, to take over the ghost zone."

No, no, no, this wasn't true- but it was. A buzzing began to fill his head.

"No…." Danny spluttered.

Vlad grinned. He raised the knife, swinging it to point at Danny's exposed heart, and laughed.

"Now my boy, there's a choice here. Let me kill you, or let me kill everyone in this class one by one."

Danny shivered, and then gasped as a thousand volts of electricity arced through his body from the tiny nick in his chest, pulling away. The buzzing grew louder, and spots began to dance behind his eyes.

"No no, Daniel, that's not how we play this game! Either sacrifice yourself, or…"

The knife dug deeper and Lancer gasped, terrified.

Danny shook his head again, his voice vanished by fear, and Vlad's grin contorted into a grimace.

"Fine then, I'll have to make an example. Say goodbye to your useless teacher, kids."

The blade shone as it swung round, round, aiming straight at Mr Lancer's chest, and Danny screamed as the buzzing inside him grew into a burst of pure energy, arcing out, lashing out, the pain behind his eyes growing as his vision was obscured by brightness and yet the pain seemed to twist into pleasure as he felt the full extent of his abilities pour from him, and a low humming rang through his ears as a warmth flooded into him. He couldn't hear the screams of the class, couldn't hear the clatter of the knife hitting the floor, couldn't hear the crashes of glass shattering as the lights exploded; everything was miniscule compared to the delicious pleasure coursing through him, the sheer exhilarating power of thousands of volts racing through his veins; he wanted more, more, and the humming grew louder and he moaned with the beauty of it and then…

The sound of Mr Lancer's flabby body hitting the tiles pierced through the pleasure like a needle into a balloon and Danny gasped as the humming vanished and the spots cleared from his vision. His eyes darted to the source of his awakening, of Mr Lancer lying there with blood dripping from the superficial wound to his neck as he gaped at Danny in shock, but then his attention went to the other body on the floor. Vlad looked weak, pitiful, his skin dried and crinkled, his eyes sunken as he gasped sharply, looking as if he'd aged a thousand years as the ghost lay upon Lancer's desk, and even as Danny watched the humming returned, weaker this time, and tremors shook Vlad's crumpled body as he grew older in front of Danny's eyes.

"Please… no..."

He cried out weakly, but it was too late. The humming grew weaker and weaker as the once terrifying ghost crumpled, and a flash of light lit the room as Masters' body slid off the desk, the skin paper thin and clinging to wasting bones, the eye sockets empty and unblinking- of course they were, there were no eyes to blink with as empty sockets stared into the class, pale white goop slowly dripping from the gaping holes, and as the humming finally faded along with the last vestiges of pleasure the skin crumbled and the skeleton that was once Vlad Masters now lay there.

Danny collapsed, the sounds of screaming, of Lancer's gasps and the sound of his best friends yelling his name dulled as he stared at his hands, the weight of the ring seeming to weigh him down, and a question rung in his mind: how?

A long forgotten biology lesson suddenly came to the forefront of his mind, of how the human body ran entirely on electric nerve impulses, of how without the energy to power them the cells would die, and even as Danny put the pieces together his core buzzed and sparks jumped from his fingers, fizzing out on the floor as danny finally realized exactly what his new powers could do.

"You're a monster…. You're worst then anything you've fought… you're no hero anymore"

His dry whispers sounded deafening to him.

Thoughts raced through his mind and he groaned in pain, doubling over, his eyes briefly closing as he realized what he'd become. A monster.

A heavy weight seemed to sink from his buzzing core into this feet, and his legs suddenly felt.. different. Unwilling eyes opened to see his ghostly tail coiling around him- except it wasn't as he knew it. Rather than being weightless, intangible, it was scraping along the tiles. Scales ran over muscle and bones, the heavy weight almost eerily familiar to him. He reached out to touch it but his hands stole his attention as he gasped, seeing the ends of his white gloves torn apart by sickle-like claws arcing from where fingernails should be, the dammed ring glittering darkly in the barely lit room. His gaze wandered, traveled up to meet the eyes of the suddenly silent class, and as his eyes met Tucker and Sam's he saw himself reflected in them. Instead of a face a sharp fanged snarling skull floated wrapped in a thin layer of translucent skin glared from their pupils. Glowing green slit pupiled eyes sat in eye sockets lit by sickly green, and pure white hair sparked, buzzing electrically.

It was a monster reflected in his friend's eyes, because it was a monster Danny had become, and as Phantom slowly rose the remaining emergency lights flickered, glowing bright before the bulbs exploded.

Phantom looked around at the class now lit only by his own green light, and a single word drifted to his mind as their terrified gazes met his.

'Monster'

The Ghost King shivered, sparks running through him and scattering across the floor.

He looked at Vlad's corpse, and hissed out a few words,

"Guess I'm not as spineless as you thought…"

A burst of lightening crumbled the bones and Phantom looked at his two best friends for the last time,

"I can't play the hero anymore…"

He vanished, leaving behind a darkened room with trails of sickly green blood mixing with red, glittering with broken glass.


	2. Chapter 2

what is UP my lads, my guys, my gals, my nonbinary pals, im alive and im back. whoever followed this "oneshot"- congrats ur an oracle becuz ive writtem chapter 2 at long last. To those who review- you keep this bird alive you sweet things. here it is, chap 2. help yerselves boys.

* * *

"Hurry _up,_ Tucker."

A voice, snappish and feminine, drifted through the Mason's once-abandoned basement. It's owner was squeezed deep into the internal workings of the Fenton portal ship, her goth platform boots exchanged for simple black trainers, the fishnet stockings switched for black jeans.

"Alright, alright, calm down! I'm coming!"

Tucker Foley, now fifteen, scrambled over the mess of wires, scrap metal and random ecto-weapons. In his hand he clutched a strange device which beeped in protest at his rough handling. As he gingerly picked his way over the last few devices 16 year old Sam Mason slipped out of the dismantled ship, landing with a soft thump in front of the boy. She wiped her oily hands off on her plain black tee and pushed her now chest-length hair back over her shoulder.

"Are you sure this is the right thing?"

"Of course! I know where…" and then Tucker halted, the word hovering in the air like a wasp, ready to sting at any second. He swallowed, then continued. "...he... kept the thing. We know… he… hasn't been here since the… accident, so it's not like it would've been moved."

Sam warily picked up the device, which beeped even more indignantly at more contact. Violet eyes cast a critical gaze, but even she couldn't find any faults, and grudgingly she admitted it looked legitimate and that she was wrong to doubt Tucker.

"Wire it up then, Tucker."

"Ugh, why do I have to do it?" The dark skinned teen complained as he clambered up the side of the Fenton portal ship, slipping as he tried to cling onto the metal.

"Because you're the tech genius, duh!" Sam called back, and with a roll of her eyes she darted up the side of ship and pushed the struggling Tucker up and into the cockpit.

"Oi! Be gentler next time!" he yelled, but his tone was light and bantering. Sam didn't bother answering, instead finding a comfortable position on the side of the ship to listen to the sounds of Tucker wiring the Booo-merang into the Portal ship. It was almost hypnotic, the rhythmic clicks and clatters of his work echoing in the quiet basement, and for a moment Sam let herself relax….

BOOM!

A slick green shape shot through the wall of the basement and in less then a heartbeat Sam was up. She grabbed her ectogun. Cocked it. Fired. Missed. Dodged. Fired again. Green ectoplasm splattered the ground. Fired again. Again. Again.

The tiny ghost, barely more than a fanged blob, sizzled as it dissolved away into nothingness. Sam found herself taking deep, steady breaths before she clicked the safety back on and holstered the ectogun. Since Danny had… left… ghost attacks happened rarely, and when they did it was tiny little ectolings that posed little to no threat. And yet Sam and Tucker had been training for the last two years of their life to fight stronger ghosts that Danny had fought, once. Now? Well, Sam would bet good money on the GIW hiring them if they ever found out her and Tuck's mastery of ectoweaponry… and human weaponry.

Talking of Tucker… she turned and looked up to see him still finishing wiring up the Booo-merang into the Portal ship. He knew she would be able to take care of most threats alone, and so he'd continued his work. Sam began to climb the ship, the familiar pattern of the last year of climbing soothing the sparks of excitement that ran through her. After all, although the setup they'd made would _hypothetically_ work…. Well, it was no use disappointing herself.

She swung herself into the cockpit alongside Tucker just as the last few sparks shot from the circuitry and he stood. He reached out, tapped a few buttons, and the tiny screen mounted on the side of the console lit up with dark green text.

_downloading_data_

_ecto-signature_registered_

_scanning_

They held their breath.

_ecto-signature_located_

_ :_Danny_Phantom_

They had hope.


End file.
